Prime Minister Tony Abbott has conspicuously softened his tone towards Indonesia after talks with the nation's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, possibly paving the way to ditch his controversial boats turn-back policy.

The talks appear to have moved the two countries - which have been at loggerheads over the Coalition's asylum-seeker policies - towards a deal in which Canberra agrees not to act unilaterally and Jakarta takes a firmer stance on dismantling people-smuggling operations.

Asked repeatedly whether his signature policy of turning asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia would ever be put into practice, Mr Abbott demurred and said only that he was confident of stopping the flow of boats with Indonesia's help.

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''Again, my object here is to stop the boats. And in order to ensure that the boats are stopped I want to have the best possible relationship with Indonesia,'' he said.

While insisting he stood by his pre-election policy announcements, Mr Abbott appeared to be preparing for a gradual change of tack, insisting that the main game was stopping the boats.

"In the end that's all that really counts: have we stopped the boats?" : Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Photo: Getty Images

''In the end that's all that really counts: have we stopped the boats?'' he said.

Some senior sources say there has been too narrow a focus on turning boats back when the key issue is leveraging a stronger response from Jakarta.

Mr Abbott also appeared to waver on other parts of his contentious policy, saying village spies and buy-backs of fishing boats were nothing more than a pot of money available to local Indonesian officials ''working co-operatively with their Australian counterparts to ensure, as far as we can, we've got people working with us rather than against us''.

Under the agreement, the two countries will work together outside the multilateral Bali Process. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and his Indonesian opposite Djoko Suyanto will meet in coming weeks to hammer out details.

Labor has leapt on the apparent backdown, with opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke on Wednesday arguing that Mr Abbott could not have it both ways, because his pledge to turn around asylum seeker boats and buy fishing vessels had offended Indonesia.

''Those issues have been made patently clear that they consider them breaches of their sovereignty,'' Mr Burke told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

It was a ''no-brainer'' that the Coalition's plan to buy Indonesian fishing vessels in a bid to disrupt people smuggling operations was never going to happen, he added.

Mr Burke said the policy had simply offended Indonesia and been viewed as stupid back home, and Mr Abbott now needed to level with the Australian people.

''He just needs to come clean and acknowledge it's an election commitment that he doesn't intend to keep,'' Mr Burke said.

Parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister Josh Frydenberg told Fairfax Media on Wednesday that Mr Abbott had "confronted his critics" on his Indonesian trip and proven he was capable of being an international statesman.

Mr Frydenberg declined to say what compromises, if any, Mr Abbott would make on the Coalition's harsh asylum seeker policies, given the Prime Minister's recent softer rhetoric.

"I think we'll absolutely stick to our policies before the last election, which included turning back the boats," Mr Frydenberg said.

"We will work very closely with Indonesia to ensure that they don't misunderstand our policy."

Dave McRae, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, said the talks had paved the way for Mr Abbott to quietly ditch his controversial turn-back policy.

''It was clear even going into the talks that neither side wanted a prolonged row over this issue,'' Dr McRae said. ''Then you had from both sides an acknowledgement in the press statement that [the boats turn-back policy] was something to be deferred to the ministerial level.

''I think that provides the opportunity . . . for the Abbott government to find a way to quietly drop the policy.

''One way they could do that, for instance, would be to appoint a panel who might set very stringent requirements for when towbacks would occur, which would effectively mean they would never happen.''

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Sunday that boat turn-backs were an issue to be ''discussed at a technical level''.

Dr McRae said this gave the Abbott government the chance to ''come up with a technical reason as to why tow backs would in fact not occur in practice''.

Mr Abbott's apparent concessions to Indonesian sensitivities come after Dr Yudhoyono said on Monday that Indonesia must negotiate directly with Australia on the boats issue, not just through the Bali Process.

431 comments

Finally progress in stopping this flood of illegal immigrants into Australia. If this doesn't work we can always try cutting Indonesia's aid payments, or withdrawing from that stupid UN refugee convention.

Commenter

Habob

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 6:53AM

Yes cut aid and send the students in the non religious schools we fund back into the arms of extremists where they can be taught how to bomb nightclubs in Bali. That'll show them!

Commenter

rext

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:01AM

Yep, good visit all round. Many good initiatives around education and trade and investment opportunities.

Abbott has established the groundwork for future meetings on tackling the people smuggling trade and appears to have key Indonesian govt officials on side.

Things can only improve from here.

All good

Commenter

Tim of Altona

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:10AM

That "stupid" refugee convention???

How about those cultures and habits of decency and civility that make us better than Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Hitler?

Are they "stupid" as well?

Commenter

I remember this

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:20AM

Geez Habob ... you sound very out of touch with the reality of the situation.Who in their right, sane mind could have even thought turning back the boats would be even plausible on this issue ..... Great diplomacy shouted from the roof tops.Clearly there is some rubbish pedalled from the Libs about this issue. I don't know about the concept of talking tough & increasing the rhetoric to deter people from coming. But what about some actual policy?Habob ... so are you believing that because you aren't hearing about the boats all the time, that they have stopped? Congrats hahahahYou are a walking contradiction aren't you Habob ... in a few small sentences you go from illegal immigrants, which they are not, to then talking about the UN refugee convention which exactly stipulates why they are not illegal. LNP member/troll by any chance?When are we going to declare the very fact of the matter, that the libs knew the boats couldn't be stopped & just shouted about it so much to win a few more votes & pander to the ignorant.I especially loved their big billboards declaring the arrivals ....& now they have created the veil of secrecy.

Commenter

Yuppy

Location

Yuppy Ville

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:21AM

I can't see much progress. Abbott was played by SBY, making concessions for little gain. Forget cutting aid to Indonesia, it's just a bribe to get more trade with them. Indonesia holds the best cards and soon L-plate Abbott and followers like you might realise that.

Commenter

rudy

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:28AM

Please stop insulting Indonesia on aid money. They do not need it if it comes with strings attached.

Commenter

Dr B S Goh

Location

Australian in Asia

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:28AM

Are you truly serious about stopping the flood of illegal immigrants, Habob? You should start campaigning to "Stop the Planes". After all, the vast majority of truly illegal entrants currently come that way.

P.S. boat people aren't automatically illegal according to U.N. conventions which we are a part of. Did you know?

Commenter

GitL

Location

Bris

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:33AM

What's really interesting is that we now have a clear example of what the Murdoch empire in Oz previously only threatened.

In the UK they had phone-hacking by the business of the Dirty Digger, a man the UK Parliament now calls "unfit" to run a major corporation.

Conspiracy No. 1.

In the US Roger Ailes continues to head Fox News despite having (unsuccessfully) offered that news organisation as "in-house" to David Petraeus, should the former General have taken a shot at the US presidency.

Conspiracy No. 2.

In Australia we are right now witnessing a conspiracy of silence by the Murdoch papers. They are simply not reporting the continuing arrival of refugee boats, since Tony Abbott became PM. Previously of course, it was promoted as a national disaster, like the "budget emergency" which Treasurer Joe Hockey no longer talks so much about. There never was a crisis, yet it was promoted as one. Worse, news about the boats is now being hushed up.

Conspiracy No. 3.

Outrageous! The Murdoch empire should have been broken up like the Sherman laws under which the Yanks broke up the big monopolies at the start of the 20th century.

Just as the Soviet Communist Party had Pravda, the Australian Liberal Party has the Murdoch papers to lie and deceive the people.

Commenter

James

Date and time

October 02, 2013, 8:43AM

What progress? There was none Habob. I would not antagonise them by withdrawing the little aid they get. It is a pittance and taking it away just looks unfriendly. 250 million nearby potential customers in an emerging power are no small matter for our trade prospects.

1 Oct
An Indonesian state-owned company is running the ruler over five big Australian cattle companies in the attempt to breed up to 500,000 head of cattle to feed the country's growing hunger for beef.